Steve Rogers' hand-picked strike-force. Despite the prejudices of the 40s, each were chosen based on their fighting ability, not their race. Together the Commandos brought down of the Red Skull's bases, impeding his efforts for his annihilation of the world.

The name "Howling Commandos" was used in the script, but never stated in the film. One screenwriter noted, "They are commandos, and at one point they do howl. They're called the Howling Commandos in the script, but no one says that out loud". However, in post-First Avenger appearances and mentions, they are referred to as the Howling Commandos regularly.

The official film soundtrack has a track called Invaders Montage during the On Patrol Montage showcasing the team routing HYDRA forces. Again, they aren't called this name in the film, either.

The Captain America: Super Soldier video game has Cap refer to them as "the Invaders" in dialogue, while the Smithsonian exhibit in TWS calls them "The Howling Commandos."

Composite Team: In the comics, Captain America and Bucky occasionally worked alongside the Howling Commandos, but were never part of the team. They were members of a team called The Invaders, alongside Brian and Jacqueline Falsworth, children of James Montgomery Falsworth below.

Elites Are More Glamorous: Zig-zagged. The Howling Commandos are a team of seven men capable of laying waste to battalions of enemy forces and destroying a string of fortified HYDRA installations, but we aren't informed of what units the Howlers came from, though Bucky is said to belong to a standard infantry regiment (and a deleted scene shows both Dugan and Jones to come from the same unit), with the only exception of Falsworth, a British paratrooper in the appropriate uniform, though he is neither shown to be more badass than the others, nor is his elite cred mentioned.

Multinational Team: In the forties, no less! Dernier is French, Falsworth is British, and the rest are American, though they include Jones, an African-American, and Morita who is Nisei, alongside the Caucasian Steve, Bucky and Dugan.

One Steve Limit: Averted. Half the team, that is 3.5 of them, are named James. The 0.5 is Jacques, which is the French form of James. Also played straight, as there is in fact only one Steve.

True Companions: Off the job, they're perfectly happy to hang out at the local bar together.

A sickly young man from Brooklyn turned into a perfect soldier by a government project. Unfortunately, the creator of the project was murdered, leaving Rogers as the only result of the project. Because of this, he was initially used as a propaganda tool to sell war bonds. He eventually earned his stripes as a soldier by rescuing an entire platoon from a HYDRA factory, where he first encountered the Red Skull.

After defeating the Red Skull, Cap crashed his Valkyrie aircraft into a glacier where he went into a hibernation state and written off as KIA for nearly 70 years before being found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the modern day. His weapon of choice is a Vibranium shield designed by Howard Stark that can absorb all energy directed at it, making it ideal as both protection and as a projectile (as it does not lose energy when it makes contact with another surface when thrown).

Action Hero: First he's a war hero, then he joins the Avengers and later does stuff for SHIELD.

Adaptation Name Change: A mild example. In the comics, Steve has no middle name, though for a while, he thought he was an upper-middleclass kid from Maryland called Steven Grant Rogers, which turned out to be fake memory implants. The movies make Grant his actual middle name, being mentioned as an initial in the first film and showing up in supplementary material.

Adorkable: Even after receiving the Super Soldier serum, he's so adorkable, he has no idea how to spread propaganda, even for a cause he believes in.

The obvious joy he has in The Avengers when he finally gets a pop culture reference to The Wizard of Oz demonstrates this as well - he's just so honestly happy to finally get what people are talking about.

Always Someone Better: It's not given a lot of screentime, but Tony seems to think of Steve this way. Not hard to imagine why, since he grew up hearing stories about how great Captain America is from his father. Tony sees Steve as someone who was simply born a good person while Tony still struggles with his narcissist tendencies.

Amazon Chaser: He first notices Peggy when she punches a recruit square in the face after he made some sexist remarks. Steve's smile says everything.

Ambiguous Disorder: In the second film, Steve is suffering from several signs of being a Shell-Shocked Veteran. He's not sure of his place in the world, he laments that the world he once knew is gone, and he has trouble sleeping in a civilian bed. He plays this so straight that Sam Wilson, who counsels people with PTSD and other disorders, pretty much finishes his sentences for him. Some viewers have even mentioned that he shows signs of being a Death Seeker, particularly during his final battle with Bucky.

Asskicking Equals Authority: Played both in Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. It takes Steve infiltrating a HYDRA base and rescuing a battalion's worth of soldiers for others to take him seriously in the former; in the latter, it takes him a brief skirmish (and a torn arm or two) with the invading aliens for the New York authorities to listen to what he's trying to tell them. Demonstrated to hilariously awesome effect during the climactic battle when Steve earnestly rattles off a strategy to some NYPD officers on how best to evacuate some civilians and form a battle line:

Cop: Why the hell should I take orders from you?

[cue a horde of Chitauri warriors going berserker at Steve, and Steve effortlessly fending them off]

Badass: This guy could have won World War II single-handledly if he hadn't been frozen.

Badass Adorable: A sweet-tempered, well-mannered and kind-hearted Boy Next Door who just happens to also possess a body rebuilt to the pinnacle of human perfection.

Badass Baritone: It's fitting that this natural leader should have a deep, commanding voice.

Badass Biker: He lacks the brooding rebel image, but Steve's ride of choice is a motorcycle — whether he's just cruising or dodging machine-gun fire.

Bad Liar: Because he's so honest. Lampshaded by Natasha in The Winter Soldier.

Bash Brothers: As a kind, noble and courageous man, Steve was already quick to earn Thor's respect: it's in the fires that raged through the battle of Manhattan in The Avengers that they truly become brothers. Also with Tony Stark after earning each other's respect through fighting side by side. Even more so with Natasha Romanoff, as seen as the end of The Avengers and cemented through The Winter Soldier, they work really well together against the bad guys.

Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest, sweetest guys in the world, but may God help you if you decide to hurt innocents.

Brooklyn Rage: While he's not bad tempered or violent, Steve still has the absolute determination and utter refusal to turn down a challenge that goes with this trope. "If you start running, they'll never let you stop."

Butt Monkey: He was stuck doing cheesy war propaganda for a while after he became a Super Soldier. For bonus points, he even drew himself as a performing monkey.

The Cape: Initially invoked for the USO show and after the timeskip he wonders if this sort of hero is old-fashioned. Regardless, he's a great example of the honest and noble hero fighting For Great Justice.

The Captain: Phillips refers to him as "Captain Rogers" in his letter to the Senator, so it's safe to assume he really does hold the rank.

Captain Patriotic: At first, the USO shuffles Steve into this role as a mascot for War Bonds sales, but he soon becomes the real thing after he "borrows" some military equipment and sneaks into a HYDRA prison camp to single-handedly free Bucky and other Allied troops.

Combat Pragmatist: While Steve's weapon of choice is his shield and fists, he has no qualms with using a gun when needed, on top of other improvised weaponry.

The Comically Serious: He's not trying to be funny about pop cultural ignorance and that's why it's funny.

Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Played with. During World War II, "Captain America" is just his stage persona. On-duty he's simply Capt. Steve Rogers, US Army. However, after his disappearance, comics using the name "Captain America" start being published. This is the identity that gets passed down to the younger generations (like Phil Coulson), so it sticks when he returns.

Composite Character: Since he forms the Howling Commandos in The First Avenger, he serves as the MCU's counterpart to the original Nick Fury from World War II.

Covert Pervert: He's grabbed into a forceful kiss by a secretary, and while initially startled by the suddenness, isn't unhappy when it actually happened. He also immediately assumes that a French word ("Fondue") he's never heard before has something to do with sex. Though do cut the kid some slack; before becoming Mr. Muscles Steve was invisible to and intimidated by women, and that kiss the secretary gave him is more than likely his first.

Cultured Badass: Not only is Steve strong and tough, but he can also play the piano, make great sketches, and speak French. His upbringing having been in the 40s has also led him to collect music and clothing from that period, giving him a nice vintage feel. However, he can't dance.

Deadpan Snarker: He's one of the few cases in which said snarker can achieve the exact same results by being completely sincere about what he says. Though he's not above very, very dry irony. Such as:

"It appears to run on some kind of electricity!" [staring helplessly at a panel of circuits]

Determinator: His signature trait — he doesn't give up. Ever. The lists of his various ailments combined with the fact that grew up during The Great Depression qualifies. Imagine having health conditions like stomach ulcers and irregular heartbeat when you have no guarantee of finding work to pay for treatment, and, in some cases, effective and affordable treatment hasn't been invented yet. Steve had to be a Determinator just to live long enough to be Captain America.

Dork Knight: Both absolutely noble and heroic and a huge puppy-dog of a man. Even post-defrosting (when he's obviously had a tough time coping with the modern day and the personal tragedies he suffered getting there), he's at all times earnest, humble, kind-hearted and devoted to defending the innocent.

Drowning My Sorrows: He tries it after Bucky is killed, but between his healing factor and accelerated metabolism, he finds he's unable to get drunk.

Empowered Badass Normal: No actual super powers aside from his superhuman physique, and he started out as a scrawny kid before becoming a Super Soldier. Some of the things he does in Winter Soldier, however, move him into true superhuman territory.

Expository Hairstyle Change: Sports a more modern haircut by The Winter Soldier, showing that he is beginning to adapt to the 21st Century.

To Tony Stark, playing the old-fashioned idealist to Tony's selfish cynic. For example, while both are shown to be dolls of the public (featured at big show events complete with dancing girls), Steve is visibly uncomfortable with the spotlight and would rather be on the front lines whereas Tony eats up the attention.

To Natasha Romanoff. She lies for a living and he can't tell a lie to save his life, but their partnership in The Winter Soldier shows that they're still both agents with issues adjusting to their current lives.

Folk Hero: Steve is this in the Marvel universe; he's a Living Legend with his own merchandise and even trading cards (as Coulson can attest). He seems taken aback by their existence in modern times and tours a Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian while soul searching in The Winter Soldier.

Genius Bruiser: Steve has intelligence to complement his physical ability, though he doesn't have an advanced education. He's an excellent tactician, learns quickly, and in one case was instantly able to determine that he was being deceived by listening to a few moments of an indistinct baseball game that he had attended. His artistic skills come into play as well, as he's able to memorize and accurately pinpoint all of HYDRA's bases on a map of Europe after seeing a brief glimpse. Later on, when he discovers the Winter Soldier's identity, he figures out how it can be to by recalling when he saw Bucky captured and possibly experimented on by Dr. Zola. His knowledge of NYC (having grown up there) also lets him use sidestreets and shortcuts to catch up with Kruger who's in a speeding vehicle - while he's on foot - and immediately come up with a plan to contain the invading Chitauri in The Avengers.

Genre Savvy: Not at first, but by The Avengers it's clear he's learned from experience. He quickly figures out that Loki gave up too easy, and even if he claims that they should just follow their superiors' orders, he still goes to check and beats Tony to the punch on calling out Fury.

Gosh Dang It to Heck!: The single rudest word he has ever used in all three of his cinematic appearances is "bastard." He's prone to using exclamations like "Son of a gun" rather than anything more explicit than that. Still, while he's not above using "damn" ("You know damn well why not!") or "hell" ("The hell I can't! I'm a Captain!") to make a point, he doesn't usually cuss at people.

Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He fits this trope much better than 99% of all live-action blond-haired film protagonists. Steve is honestly noble, pure, selfless, and heroic; not to mention a total teddy-bear and sweetheart.

Hero with Bad Publicity: He's branded a traitor by SHIELD in The Winter Soldier, forcing him to go on the run. Subverted in the end when he reveals that HYDRA has taken over the organization. He is instantly believed (and quickly proven right).

Heroic BSOD: Hits one hard when he figures out that the figure he had been fighting, the Winter Soldier, was Bucky Barnes. He completely shuts down and allows himself to be caught.

Heroic Sacrifice: A Late-Arrival Spoiler if you see The Avengers but he pilots Red Skull's ailing HYDRA jet to crash somewhere in the Arctic Circle in order to avert a catastrophe on the coast of the United States.

With Bucky Barnes. Pre-serum, Bucky used to defend Steve from bullies; post-serum, Steve breaks into Nazi strongholds to rescue him and Bucky would follow him into hell.

Really exemplified in The Winter Soldier, after learning that the titular villain is his best friend.

Captain: Even when I had nothing — I had Bucky.

He also quickly becomes this with Sam Wilson, who notes on two occasions that he's unsure why people are asking for his input on the situation at hand, since he's just going to side with Cap. It helps that they're both Shell-Shocked Veterans who share the mutual trauma of losing a close friend on the battlefield.

It's only shown once (twice if you count deleted scenes), but Steve's also an artist, and both scenes of him drawing while brooding are post-serum— he didn't lose his taste for softer pleasures afterward.

The fact that he can date a particular baseball game he went to after only hearing a few snippets of the play-by-play also suggests he's a huge baseball fan. Since he grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, his home team would have been the Brooklyn Dodgers, who have since moved to Los Angeles — just another aspect of the modern world he'd have to get used to.

As of The Winter Soldier, he apparently speaks French. Maybe he wanted to know what "fondue" means? He can also hotwire a car (useful skill behind the lines in Nazi Germany).

Honor Before Reason: More like he believes reason and honor are the same thing, and you can't have one without the other.

Hope Bringer: His only and greatest superpower: the ability to inspire courage and hope through his nobility and heroism.

Humble Hero: It's why the serum worked so well on him and why Dr. Erskine chose him. Steve isn't proud or arrogant, he's just a man who wants to serve his country and do the right thing for the sake of doing it. The following exchange sums it up perfectly:

Hurting Hero/Iron Woobie: Imagine waking up after a 70 year coma to find that almost everyone you loved and cared for has died of old age; and all that you fought for, bled for, believed in and stood for has been consumed by the apathy and cynicism of a disillusioned and materialistic world. And you go on fighting.

Ideal Hero: He had the core from the start; it's why he was chosen to be Captain America.

Ill Boy: Before the serum, he had a long list of medical problems, which would have kept him out of the army under normal circumstances.

Incorruptible Pure Pureness: This is why the Super Serum was so effective; there's nothing bad in him to amplify, leaving only the good qualities.

In Harm's Way: By the time of The Winter Soldier, Steve doesn't know what to do with himself if he's not in the field fighting bad guys. The problem is, he doesn't know who the bad guys are anymore. A flabbergasted Natasha flat out asks Steve why he looks so happy after finding out that his Heroic Sacrifice was for nothing, and that everything he believed in was crashing around him. He just says, "I guess I like to know who I'm fighting." For better or worse, fighting the good fight has become who Steve is.

Irony: A tall, muscular, blond, blue-eyed, ideal Aryan-Ubermensch fighting Nazis. It's double ironic when you consider that this "ideal Aryan Ubermensch" came from a sickly, physically unimpressive orphan — the exact type of human the Nazis would've deemed inferior. According to some interpretations, this was precisely the point.

invokedIrony as She Is Cast: Steve claims he doesn't know how to dance. Chris Evans is trained in tap-dancing.

Jack of All Stats - Non-game example, relative to the his position and strengths/weaknesses on the Avengers:

He's physically stronger and faster than human Bruce Banner, Tony Stark out of the suit, and other humans, but Thor, Iron Man and Hulk out-rank him in raw damage output, speed and strength.

He is intelligent and quick-thinking, not brilliant on-par with Bruce or Tony or cunning like Black Widow, but enough to asses a situation and develop a good solution in the heat of battle. He is also more culturally-adapted than Thor.

His shield is also a great weapon capable of offense and defense, but it isn't as strong as Thor's hammer (though it can withstand it) or Hulk's fists, and he lacks the variety of weapons Clint, Natasha, and Tony have.

Jumped at the Call: He'll always answer the call to heroism, even if it initially means putting on a goofy outfit and doing a silly show about war bonds.

The Kirk: The best description of his leadership style. He'll always put lives first, but he maintains the rationale of a seasoned soldier, which enables him to make tough decisions, such as ordering Natasha to close the Tessaract portal with Tony still on the other side.

Lantern Jaw of Justice: Whedon considers "the greatest jaw in [The Avengers]" the main reason why Chris Evans can play a superhero and he can't.

The Leader: Overlaps all Types. He's level-headed but also inspiring and capable of pushing a plan through opposition.

Living Legend: By the 21st century he has trading cards. Tony Stark even refers to him as "a Living Legend that kind of lives up to the legend."

It also serves as a parallel to the Winter Soldier's own Shrouded in Myth reputation. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, but the ones who do are terrified of him and his reputation as an near-supernaturally skilled, covert and ruthless assassin established over five decades, contributing to modern-day paranoia. Compare that to Steve, who is known everywhere and helped inspire old-fashioned idealism due to his own heroic actions during World War II.

A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted. Pre-transformation Steve Rogers is terribly intimidated by women (owing to his small stature), even afraid to ask girls to dance with him. His apprehension remains after receiving the Super Soldier serum, even when women throw themselves at him. His brief macking with the secretary in Captain America: The First Avenger may very well be his first kiss. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, after a Fake-Out Make-Out, Natasha teases Steve over being a bad kisser, implying that he's still not very experienced. Steve tries to deny that it was his first kiss since the 40's, claiming that he's "95 years old, not dead".

Martyr Without a Cause: Steve has the tendency (left over from his skinny and sickly days) to consider his own life expendable, and risk it without considering another solution first. Best emphasized in The Avengers.

Steve: You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.

The Paragon: Steve is such an ideal of heroism and justice that when he outs HYDRA's presence within SHIELD, everyone who isn't a HYDRA agent immediately takes action against the villains. No one doubts Steve's word for a second.

Parental Abandonment: His father died of mustard gas in the first World War, while Rogers would've still been a baby. His mother was a nurse for patients with tuberculosis, caught it herself, and died when her son was a young adult.

Parental Favoritism: He's not Howard Stark's biological son or even related to him, but Steve meant a great deal to the man who would father Tony Stark. Tony in turn would eventually come to resent Steve; according to Robert Downey, Jr., Steve is "the brother Tony could never live up to." To make things worse, Steve is ostensibly oblivious to this dynamic.

Patriotic Fervor/My Country, Right or Wrong: Played with considerable nuance. While Steve does love the American Way and is willing to protect his fellow Americans, he's not the jingoistic type who's in it to kill Nazis or force his patriotism down everyone's throat. To expand on the original quote; "My Country, Right or Wrong. If Right, to be kept Right, if Wrong, to be set Right." This is best demonstrated in the second film, where Steve is happy to fight for virtues like freedom and human life, but is not so keen about over-policing and Real-politik.

Precision-Guided Boomerang: Due to his advanced skill and split second timing, Steve can always bounce his shield so it comes back to him.

Preemptive "Shut Up": He does this to a SHIELD agent who tries to keep him, Hawkeye, and Black Widow from stealing a jet to pilot to New York. If he'll turn out to be anything like his comic counterpart, he'll become a lot better at employing this tactic.

Steve: Son, just don't.

Primary-Color Champion: Invoked by the guys designing his costume. He's a PR guy selling war bonds so the colors are important to connect with the in-universe audience.

Rated M for Manly: Action Hero soldier fighting in wars and doing missions for the MIB.

Really 700 Years Old: Thanks to his 70-year slumber, Cap is technically the oldest of the Avengers (not counting Thor, who's an immortal god), but he's physically the youngest.

Required Secondary Powers: Steve would not be able to use his shield effectively if not for his super-strength. As seen when Bucky tries to use it against a HYDRA trooper, the shield may be able to absorb the blast, but the recoil still sends him flying. Additionally, a lot of his ricochet throws and other tricks would require lightning-fast geometry skills and a heightened sense of anticipation and hand-eye coordination.

Returning War Vet: Leading Commando units in WWII preps you for leading superheroes against invading alien hordes.

Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: A key character point about Captain America is his firm idealism - he not only has ideals, he represents them. However, they are a product of a war that threw them away even before it was over and a time that was much less informed and cynical about the realities of warfare. He often wonders if the ideals he grew up with mean anything in today's world, or if they ever actually meant anything even in the old days.

Attempts to rescue a boy held at gunpoint by a Nazi spy and is willing to let the spy shoot him. (The spy was out of bullets.) Then he tries to rescue the drowning boy at the risk of letting a Nazi escape with the Super Serum. (Luckily, the boy can swim.)

In The Avengers, he rescues a bank full of innocent civilians while the rest of the team battles the Chitauri and Loki.

In The Winter Soldier, he demands the complete dismantling of SHIELD, which both Nick Fury and the later Senate subcommittee protest to as it was America's best intelligence network. Cap isn't concerned with how anyone deals with this loss, because keeping it around is too dangerous.

Socially-Awkward Hero: Even after he gets serum'ed, he has no idea what "fondue" is and thinks it's a sex metaphor. It gets even worse when he wakes up in the present and can't understand most pop culture references.

Spy Catsuit: His stealth suit in The Winter Soldier is quite tight and darker than his other uniforms. His Captain America suit in The Avengers is noticeably skintight as well. It's even lampshaded by Loki, of all people.

Loki: The costume is a bit much, so tight...

Static Character: In all three films, Steve remains roughly the same person he was in Brooklyn in 1941. This is the whole point. Steve is a good, moral person who doesn't alter his morals when they're inconvenient, abandon them if it means dying for them, or compromise them because the world is gray. In fact, in The Winter Soldier, Steve is the character that causes everyone else'sCharacter Development, because he doesn't accept the lies they're telling themselves and others.

The Stoic: Cap is mostly understated in speech (though not opposed to smiling). The only time Chris Evans really hams it up is playing "Loki disguised as Cap" in Thor: The Dark World. He even commented that he always tried to avoid being that over-the-top.

The Strategist: Able to instantaneously formulate ironclad attack patterns, formations and strategies based on split second assessment of the situation compared to the abilities of the warriors under his command. Had he not been present, the Chitauri would have ripped every innocent civilian in Manhattan to pieces, the Avengers too scattered and disorganized to protect them.

Stunned Silence: He can only look on in disbelief when he sees that the Winter Soldier is his long-thought dead best friend, Bucky Barnes.

Super Soldier: The serum made him taller, tougher, and stronger than other humans. Tony Stark is not impressed because he sees it as just Playing with Syringes, apparently unaware that the serum only worked because of Steve's genuinely kind personality.

Super Speed: Downplayed, like most of his superpowers. He's not the Flash, but he does have a steady run speed of twenty-six miles per hour. For reference, Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, only managed 27.79 mph in a hundred-metre sprint, and thirteen miles per hour is considered extremely fast for a several-mile run.

Super Strength: He can hit far harder than a normal human being, and can barge through thin concrete without slowing down.

Super Toughness: He can take punches from Loki and keep going, and getting shot with a Chitauri weapon is only a non-fatal wound. The armor that his fanboy designed for him makes him even more durable.

Technical Pacifist: As the embodiment of freedom and justice, Captain America tries to let his enemies live when possible. However, unlike most superheroes, he is a soldier and kills when necessary. Neither will he interfere if his more morally ambiguous teammates decide that somebody must die.

Jasper Sitwell: Are you trying to imply that you'll throw me off this roof? That's really not your style, Rogers.

To Be Lawful or Good: Both films demonstrate that Steve is willing to disobey his superiors or quit if faced with this kind of choice. In the first film, however, his superiors are generally good people whom Steve disagrees with, thus he submits himself for disciplinary action after disobeying orders (in Real Life, this is considered the duty of a soldier with moral objections). In the second film, it's his superiors that turn against him, leaving Cap with no choice but to fight back.

Took a Level in Badass: This was essentially what his entire film was about — going from a scrawny Brooklyn boy to the ultimate soldier and still a Nice Guy by the end of it, which was why he was chosen. He takes another one in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where his combat skills have been refined. If they hadn't, even with the serum, he wouldn't have stood a chance against the titular villain.

Transhuman: Strong enough to fight Loki one-on-one, fast enough to run thirteen miles in half an hour (and that's his morning jog, after which he's barely winded).

Undying Loyalty: To his best friend Bucky, a sentiment that is clearly returned. When Sam tells him that regardless of whoever Bucky used to be, Steve may have to stop him, not save him, Steve recognizes that, but he also recognizes that he ultimately won't be able to do it if it came to that point. Exemplified at the end of the movie, where after stopping Project Insight, he drops his iconic shield into the Potomac below and resolutely tells Bucky he won't fight him, even after Bucky starts beating the crap out of him. The end of movie even has him and Sam go searching for Bucky instead of helping Fury in taking down the rest of the remnants of HYDRA.]]

Wise Beyond Their Years: He's a bit younger than he looks, but his experience as a soldier allows him to see the best way to handle just about any battlefield situation, and in trying times makes him the greatest and most competent field leader to serve under, age be damned.

The (physically) youngest member on The Team. His strength of character and his battlefield experience, however, make him the best fit for command.

The best example is the first time the Avengers assemble as a team in the middle of a Chitauri-overrun New York; the discussion over who's in charge amounts to Iron Man asking Cap to tell them the plan, Cap issuing his orders, and nobody arguing with him. What's most impressive is that he makes the Hulk — who, not too long ago, was trying to splatter Black Widow and Thor on the helicarrier — follow him with a few words:

Steve Rogers' best and oldest friend. Companions since childhood, Bucky would often come to Steve's rescue by fending off bullies and offering him a place to stay. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the two of them enlisted, and Bucky was accepted into the Army while Steve was constantly rejected.

Barnes became a Sergeant in the 107th Infantry, but his unit was captured by the Red Skull's HYDRA forces, and made a subject of lab experiments by Dr. Zola. But then Bucky was rescued by none other than his old friend Steve, now the fit and able-bodied Captain America. Along with several other POWs rescued from the HYDRA base, Bucky and Steve formed a special ops assault group, the Howling Commandos.

Age Lift: Around the same age as Steve instead of starting out as his Kid Sidekick like in the comics. His Smithsonian exhibit lists two different birth years (1916 and 1917), making him older than Steve (b. July 4, 1918).

Adaptation Distillation: In the comics, Bucky and Steve don't meet until after Steve is given the serum. They're still best friends, but there's a clear older brother/younger brother dynamic, with Steve as both a role model and mentor and Bucky the sidekick. In the original 1940s comics, their dynamic was very similar to the father/son-but-not-quite relationship between the contemporary Batman and Robin, but modern comics (read: Ed Brubaker) shortened their age gap to four years— giving Bucky the Age Lift that made him more of a partner than a sidekick, but still preserving the power dynamics. In the movies, they're closer in age and childhood friends, eliminating the Kid Sidekick trope and saving the writers from having to cram in a subplot about how they met, but this change also has the added benefit of giving skinny Steve someone who has always believed in and stuck by him. "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky" was not something Steve could have said in the comics, no matter how much he values his friend.

Badass Normal: He's a mundane, albeit very skilled soldier. Zola reveals that something was done to him before his disappearance that ultimately allowed him to survive his Disney Death, meaning that he was an Empowered Badass Normal to a degree.

Determinator: Steve finds him strapped to a table after torture and experimentation in a Hydra camp, but he won't escape without Steve, and when the 107th comes walking back into the American camp, he's not riding any of the vehicles they stole, he's up and walking right next to Steve at the front.

Cold Sniper: While nice to his friends when hanging out he's noticeably more ruthless while in battle, such as when saving Steve from a HYDRA ambusher by sniping him. The others look impressed by his shot, but Bucky just grimly reloads. According to his actor, it's a small foreshadowing of his eventual turn as Winter Soldier.]

One of their earliest scenes, immediately before Steve tries to sign up for the army for the millionth time.

Bucky: Don't do anything stupid until I get back. Steve: How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you. [Bucky gives Steve one last hug before leaving]Bucky: You're a punk. Steve: Jerk.

In The Winter Soldier, a flashback reveals that he offered Steve a place to stay after his mother died, with his comment about "You'd just have to shine my shoes..." indicating he'd have been willing to provide for both of them. Further proof that no matter what, Bucky will always have his back.

Jim Morita

A Nisei (American-Born Japanese) soldier from Fresno, California rescued by Steve. Jim endured the predictable prejudice towards his people after Pearl Harbor in spite of his patriotism. However, he soon proved himself a fierce and loyal battle-brother serving as the Communications Officer of Captain America's Howling Commandos.

Token Enemy Minority: He's a Nisei, meaning he has Japanese descent, but is American-born. He had to point this out when Dum-Dum thought he was this trope.

Yellow Peril: Averted and Defied; In his backstory he endured a lot of harassment for being Japanese after Pearl Harbor, but there's no mention of his race in the movie itself, and he's just as loyal and dedicated to bringing down the Nazis / HYDRA as the other Commandos.

Gabriel "Gabe" Jones

Gabriel "Gabe" Jones

Prior to being rescued by Captain Rogers, Gabe was a Linguistics-Major graduate of Howard University who hoped to steal the hearts of European women with his winning smile, charming personality and fluency of multiple languages. Now his linguistic mastery has become an invaluable asset amongst the Howling Commandos.

Badass Bookworm: Made doubly so by the difficulties and prejudice faced by African Americans when seeking education in the racist social-climate of 1940's America; and he was able to graduate in spite of said prejudices.

Black Vikings: Last-minute aversion. A cut scene shows him fighting in the trenches in Bucky and Dum Dum's unit before their capture, even though in reality, black soldiers were segregated from white at the time. However, the scene was cut, so the canon Jones may have previously fought in a segregated unit as was the norm.

Cunning Linguist: Being able to read German tank-controls allowed Jones to help Dum-Dum turn the tide in the battle of the concentration camp. It's also shown he knows French, which allows him to interpret intercepted communications on Zola's train.

Colonel Chester Phillips

The US Army Colonel in charge of the Super Soldier project alongside Erskine. Upon first seeing Rogers (before the serum), he "wanted to cry" and had absolutely no faith in the young asthmatic. Even after the project worked, Phillips still considered it a failure because Rogers was its only product instead of the supersoldier army he hoped for. While Phillips went off to the battlefield, he intended for Rogers to be locked up in a lab - didn't work out quite so well as the Captain became America's greatest propaganda icon. After the Cap saved 400 prisoners from HYDRA, the two reconciled and worked together to bring down Schmidt.

Badass Normal: No superpowers here, just vast combat experience and a shotgun.

Colonel Badass: When he goes into combat, he shows that he's very much a badass: He joins the fray in the final fight and coins the response to HYDRA agents' "cut off one head, two more will take its place" evil creed.

He may be on the heroically portrayed side in his film, but his words show he's not all that nice.

Phillips: When you brought a ninety-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he'll be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him. [sees Pre-Serum Steve doing some very awkward jumping jacks] Look at him. He's making me cry.

Steve shows him that the two can go hand in hand and he noticeably becomes more respectful, leading to the below trope.

Jerkass Has a Point: He has a good reason for not staging a mission to rescue the 107th: they are located 30 miles behind enemy lines in a heavily fortified area. They'd lose more men than they'd save.

Reasonable Authority Figure: Not at first but Character Development turns him into one, starting from the moment Steve surrenders himself to disciplinary action and up to his final scene when he gives Peggy Steve's folder with a heartfelt look of sympathy.

A German scientist and inventor of a Super Soldier formula. He picks Rogers as the candidate out of an entire muscled platoon, believing that a weak man knew the value of strength, and knew that Rogers was a truly good man.

Parental Substitute: In their friendship Abraham was a gentle figure of wisdom and the man who allowed Steve Rogers to be reborn as a new man, effectively becoming his second father in every sense of the word.

Wide-Eyed Idealist: Adamant in his belief that it takes a kind heart to create the ultimate warrior, not just loyalty or willingness to fight; hence his choice of Steve as his candidate for the Super Soldier Serum test.

Howard Stark

Howard Stark

"Technically, we're not even sure it works, but— well, let's face it, I invented it, so it works."

A counselor for a support group at the Washington D.C. Veteran's Army hospital who was formerly with the USAF Pararescue unit. He uses a winged flight suit in combat.

Adaptation Distillation: In the comics, Sam Wilson was introduced as a social worker, and later retconned into being a pimp who'd been brainwashed by the Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube/Tesseract to think he was a social worker, but was actually the Skull's mole. The film instead makes Sam both a veteran and a veterans' counselor, preserving the spirit of someone who'd spend his time trying to better the lives of others and giving him a specific point of connection with Steve.

Animal Motifs: Falcons, obviously. Probably not as much as his comic book counterpart who has an actual falcon as his crime-fighting sidekick companion, but the winged flight suit means the imagery is still there.

Badass: A highly competent hand-to-hand fighter, as well as very handy in the air.

Badass Normal: He's just a normal man with special training, and he managed to outfly SHIELD fighters, and take down a Helicarrier almost entirely by himself.

Birds of a Feather: Puns aside, this is why he and Steve click so well: they're both relentlessly good guys, veterans, dedicated to helping others, and even had similar experiences in war, having to watch as a close friend fell to his death during what should have been a routine op.

Black Best Friend: Downplayed. His character and parts of his background are established before he goes saving the day with Steve.

Clothes Make the Superman: His comic book counterpart's psychic connection to birds is not mentioned; his combat prowess is due to the retractable wings on his suit.

A Friend in Need: Does not hesitate to open his door to the fugitive Steve and Natasha.

Home Guard: A member of the Air National Guard, which is to the USAF what the [Land] National Guard is to the US Army.

The Lancer: He winds up becoming this to Steve. As a heroic war veteran, he strikes a contrast with Steven because he has a different sort of unique ability. This is especially at the end of The Winter Soldier where they tag team Project Insight.

Jet Pack: His flight suit is basically a jetpack with wings, although it doesn't work when the wings are torn off during the final battle — Sam has to deploy a parachute to land safely.

Jumped at the Call: Needs all of zero convincing to jump in and help Steve and Natasha. He's also on board with Steve in tracking down the recovering amnesiac Bucky in the post-climax.

My Greatest Failure: Haunted by the loss of a close friend in his unit. However, he's learned to deal with the trauma from it by the time of the film, and keeps an upbeat attitude.

Sam: Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry. Is it going to be in a big suitcase, or a little man-purse? It's up to you.

Nice Guy: He's on the same level as Steve, a reassurance that the morally gray modern days still have people as decent as him.

The Not-Love Interest: Sam is the one who is most emotionally supportive of Steve, tries to get him to talk about his feelings, and establishes an instant rapport with him. The way he's introduced before the plot is and immediately clicks with Steve, combined with the aforementioned emotional support, means he fills a lot of the functions of a typical superhero movie girlfriend.

Not So Different: Acknowledged In-Universe that he and Steve are quite similar as both are war vets who return home unable to truly adjust to the world they left behind. Both lost their best friend and are genuinely nice people to boot.

Overshadowed by Awesome: Downplayed. Though he's still a Badass Normal, he has some trouble holding his own without his flight suit and is trounced by superhumans like the Winter Soldier. One example is his fight with Rumlow; Sam, a military veteran who's been out of the field for a while, is pushed down but refuses to give up, while Rumlow, a seasoned STRIKE agent who's still in action, overcomes him repeatedly and may have won if not for an entire Helicarrier falling on his head.

Shut Up, Hannibal!: Provides one of the best examples in the MCU when Brock Rumlow starts monologuing about the hopelessness of the good guys and how they should all bow to HYDRA:

Ship Tease: According to Mackie, Sam has a crush on Black Widow. However, she doesn't know about it and Sam's only hints of it are when he gives her a friendly greeting upon first seeing Natasha and later insisting they get medical help for her after she's shot in the shoulder.

Undying Loyalty: It's subtle, but it's clear that Sam has pledged his to Steve. He decides to go with Steve on his search for Bucky, even though earlier in the movie he tried to convince Steve that it was very likely that Bucky couldn't be saved.

Warrior Therapist: Sam works at the VA counselling veterans and soldiers who come back from wars with PTSD, and he's also an elite soldier.

The Worf Effect: Mentioned on the commentary track: Sam is a very skilled combatant, but he's new to the superhero business and the Winter Soldier is a killing machine going back at least six decades. The Soldier eliminates him as a threat in one move, and Sam barely had time to release his parachute— it doesn't inflate all the way and slows his descent only enough to keep him from serious injury.

Secretary of Defense Alexander Pierce

A member of the World Security Council and old comrade of Nick Fury. He is one of the primary heads of Project INSIGHT, and leads an investigation on all suspects of the assassination attempt on Nick Fury... including Captain America.

Big Bad: Of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He calls for the hit on Fury, gives orders to the Winter Soldier, and plans to use Helicarriers and Zola's algorithm to place the entire world under his control.

Nick Fury: You know, there was a time when I would have taken a bullet for you.

Composite Character: Of Alexander Goodwin Pierce, as far as the name goes, Robert 'Rebel' Ralston, in being an old friend of Fury's who was in an oversight position over SHIELD, not to mention being drawn to look like Redford for a time, and Aleksander Lukin, the Winter Soldier's master. His motives and high position evoke shades of Number One of the Secret Empire arc.

Cool Old Guy: The fact that he's Robert Redford is reason enough, but he also argues defiantly with the World Security Council and has a good sense of humor.

Corrupt Bureaucrat: When it comes down to it, this is all he is, but the corruption is in a different way than most. Think of a kill list. People who, it's been decided, threaten the world's order enough that they must be killed to uphold it. From that, he's extrapolated the concept of figuring out what makes a person threaten world order, then removing the people who fit that profile in their dozens, or hundreds, or millions before they become threats. Never mind "innocent until proven guilty". Never mind those on kill lists have usually actively resisted less lethal alternatives. It's just another step...

Deadpan Snarker: His remark about pointing out Algiers on a map qualifies. This is apparently a habit of his; at one point, one of the World Security Council asks Pierce to get any "snappy remarks" out of the way early.

Detective Mole: He puts himself in charge of investigating Fury's "murder."

Dying Alone: After being shot by Fury, he's left to die in in the ruins of his office as the helicarriers and his plans crumble to pieces around him, proclaiming loyalty to HYDRA with his final breath.

Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance, meeting with the Council. He's standing while they're sitting passively, and while they're argumentative, stuffy, and obstructive, Pierce sees through all of it and delivers catty zingers at their expense. But lastly, there's this exchange, which greatly foreshadows The Reveal later on.

His daughter, whose near death at the hands of terrorists was what motivated his Start of Darkness. When he saw how his inaction would've cost her her life and how Fury's unauthorized heroics saved her, Pierce decided he'd rather have the power to stop threats before they occur, whatever the cost, and this may have contributed to his turning to HYDRA.

He also expresses regret about the death of his maid, even though he personally was forced to shoot her after she stumbled on his meeting with Winter Soldier.

Evil Old Folks: One of the oldest people in The Winter Soldier (Robert Redford was 76 at the time of filming.)

Evil Redhead: Pierce has Redford's red hair, and is the current leader of HYDRA. Better than having a red face like the previous leader.

Faux Affably Evil: At first, Pierce seems like another Nick Fury. He rails against the World Security Council much like Fury, has a friendship with Fury and is a fan of the Avengers. The reality is, he's a manipulative Jerkass who is a member of a dictatorial regime that was spawned in Nazi Germany and he himself is responsible for God-knows how many deaths over the years.

Hannibal Lecture: After Natasha takes over his meeting, puts him at gunpoint and Nick Fury walks in, he gives one of these at the end of the movie, telling Fury that seeing his aggressive stance on terrorism earlier in their lives is what inspired Pierce to actively stamp out any and all threats to peace. Giving that meant joining HYDRA, Fury is noticeably upset at the notion.

Karmic Death: Shot twice by Nick Fury, the man he tried to kill and whose "death" set the motion of the events in the film.

When his housekeeper unexpectedly returns and stumbles onto his meeting with the Winter Soldier, he shoots her twice with only the most minor of regrets.

While trying to get a mission report from the Winter Soldier, Pierce slaps him in the face when he proves unresponsive, then has him subjected to a painful memory wipe, indifferent to the Soldier's screams of agony as he walks away.

Knight Templar: Seems to genuinely believe that HYDRA's work is for the good of mankind.

The Man Behind the Man: The one who's pulling the strings of the Winter Soldier. He is also HYDRA's modern day leader.

Manipulative Bastard: He's successfully manipulated SHIELD for years, and does a good job for manipulating the World Security Council, Captain America and even seasoned chessmaster Nick Fury.

Mole in Charge: He is HYDRA's mole within SHIELD and he's basically Fury's boss. After Fury's death, his control of SHIELD is essentially rock-solid.

The Needs of the Many: He justifies his plot to have HYDRA shoot 20,000,000 people by saying their deaths will save billions.

Non-Action Big Bad: Unusually for a superhero movie, Pierce does not appear to have any physical combat capabilities. However, he knows how to use guns and hidden kill-gadgets, and given that he is in command of virtually all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources (including legions of SWAT teams, multiple helicarriers, and The Winter Soldier), he is still extremely dangerous.

Obviously Evil: He frequently discusses his desire to create a new world, and the trailers prominently featured his line "Sometimes, creating a new world means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies". Does that sound like something a hero would say?

Last when, Black Widow shocks herself to disable Pierce's kill-device on her. This time his shock of trying to figure out what just happened buys time for Fury to grab a gun and shoot him.

Real Award, Fictional Character: Pierce is notable for that time he turned down the Nobel Peace Prize by saying that peace is a goal that must be continuously striven for and such a worthy goal does not need prizes. By this point in the film he's already been revealed as the head of HYDRA, and we know that HYDRA's ideas of peace are not the kind that would warrant the Peace Prize. Nick is suitably disgusted when he says the line.

Remember the New Guy: Introduced as friend and superior of Nick Fury's, a member of the World Security Council, despite not appearing among them in The Avengers. Almost all the WSC members seen here are new, though, so it's possible The Avengers either didn't show all the members or there was a change in staff in the time since.

Running Both Sides: For most of The Winter Soldier, he's in charge of both the legitimate SHIELD and the American division of HYDRA.

The Unfettered: The ends justify the means for Pierce, so he doesn't bother limiting his means; early in The Winter Soldier, he tries to have his old friend Nick Fury get assassinated by police officers. Then there's Project INSIGHT.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pierce believes himself to be one of these, but it falls short when one considers that the intended targets of Project Insight were all people who stood to threaten HYDRA, rather than the world as a whole.

Agent Brock Rumlow

Agent Brock Rumlow

A S.H.I.E.L.D. operative working with Captain America and leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s STRIKE team.

Adaptational Heroism: Played With. In the comics, Rumlow has always been an unrepentant thug with zero redeeming characteristics. In the movie, he's a SHIELD agent who turns out to be a HYDRA agent, although HYDRA has taken on Knight Templar traits in this film, so the trope still applies to a limited extent; in the comics, Rumlow loyally served the openly evil Red Skull.

Badass Normal: He's just a well-trained ordinary human, but he can still give Captain America a run for his money.

Badass Boast: He's one of the toughest agents around and he knows it, as shown when he brags before fighting Sam Wilson aka "Falcon".

Rumlow: This is gonna hurt. There are no prisoners with HYDRA. Just order, and order only comes through pain. You ready for yours? (after beating Falcon down again) You're out of your depth, kid.

Body Horror: Rumlow survived having a Helicarrier crash into a building while he was inside of said building. The end result isn't pretty. He's seen being hospitalized so he might return in a later film if he isn't incarcerated.

Co-Dragons: With the Winter Soldier, to Alexander Pierce. Of those two, Rumlow is more active, and seems to be the blunt hammer and everyday right-hand man. When things really need to get done, however, the higher-ups call in Bucky/the Winter Soldier.

Not Quite Dead: At the climax of the movie, he's seemingly crushed to death under debris when a heli-carrier crashes into the floor of the building he's in. A sequence before the credits reveals he's badly scarred and in critical condition, but still alive.

Pragmatic Villainy: Though ruthless, he knows better than to shoot Rogers in broad daylight, after spotting a news helicopter filming overhead. Instead he opts to capture him and transport him some place abandoned where they can shoot him and dump the body.

Weapon of Choice: Carries a pair of electrified shock batons that are powerful enough to knock-out a mercenary with a single touch and hurt Rogers.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. operative in the modern day, who pretends to be a nurse living next door to Steve but was secretly assigned by Nick Fury to protect him. Later she is a reluctant part of Pierce's surveillance team, tracking the whereabout of Captain America.

Action Girl: Downplayed, but she's a SHIELD agent and a highly proficient shooter. Though she doesn't do very well against Rumlow as she was standing far too close.

Adaptational Wimp: Somewhat. In the comics, Sharon is a top agent of SHIELD since her first appearances, a Badass Normal who can hold her own against a few supervillains and has no trouble keeping up with Black Widow in the field. In the movie, she is easily dispatched by Rumlow, and Word of God is that she is a rookie.

Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Inverted, she's referred to as Agent 13 most of the time. We don't even learn her first name until the final scene, and even then her last name and thus relation to Peggy isn't mentioned.

Demoted to Extra: She's a main character in the comics, but she has only appeared in one movie with a tertiary role.

Generation Xerox: Downplayed; she physically resembles Peggy but has blond hair instead of brown. It's more noticeable in terms of personality and abilities: she's an excellent markswoman and very serious at her job as an agent, just like Peggy.

Girl Next Door: She initially poses as Kate, a nurse who lives next door to Steve.

Good-Looking Privates: She's the only SHIELD agent shown with her collar and top buttons unbuttoned. And absolutely gorgeous.

Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde, and a loyal agent of SHIELD, which is further emphasized when she holds Rumlow at gunpoint when he threatens to kill a tech who refuses to bow to HYDRA's orders. She also saves the tech from getting shot by kicking out his chair from under him even after Rumlow injures her.

Mythology Gag: In the comics Sharon is Peggy's niece, and ends up dating Steve just like her aunt. In the film her relationship with Peggy is alluded to with a brief scene of wrapping up a phone call with an aunt implied to be Peggy, and her romance with Steve starts with a bit of banter from them and Black Widow half-jokingly suggesting they start dating.

Out of Focus: Sharon Carter, perennial leading lady in Cap's stories, is more or less a name extra.

Saved for the Sequel: Winter Soldier is already a very long movie, so Steve's relationship subplot with Sharon is put on hold until the next film where it can be explored more.

Secret Identity: Kate, a nurse and Steve Rogers' neighbour, is actually SHIELD agent Sharon Carter, with the mission of keeping an eye on him and protecting him if needed.

The Red Skull's private army, which was originally the Nazi science division but then developed Tesseract powered weaponry and broke away to become their own faction. Facism and conquest of freedom is still their core philosophy, and world domination their goal.

Airborne Aircraft Carrier: They got three of them, the Insight Heli-carriers, armed with some really powerful and accurate long-range gun batteries.

As Long as There Is One Man: A villainous version. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." As shown in The Winter Soldier this is a true statement. As the last remainder of HYDRA, Zola managed to reconstruct the organization from within SHIELD in a far more subversive manner than the overt methods of Red Skull.

Back from the Brink: After the SSR and the Howling Commandos all but destroyed HYDRA in the 1940s, Zola did this to the organization, rebuilding it within the nascent SHIELD.

Badass Creed: "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place! Hail HYDRA!"

Big Brother Is Watching: Zola's algorithm combined with Shield surveillance technology and infrastructure. Stilwell spells it out for Cap and Widow.

Their plan for The Winter Soldier- simply disappear and integrate into the present, stirring up enough trouble so as to scare the peoples of the world into giving them dominance. They were literally less than a second away from succeeding in this.

Their plan for dealing with a world full of superheroes? Get them while they're still in the Origin Story phase. Using an algorithm that analyzes every single person's recorded data, Project Insight can predict which people have the most risk of being a danger to HYDRA should they ever get superpowers. Even if they're no more than a "high school valedictorian from Iowa City", HYDRA has learned its lesson that even a 90-pound weakling from Brooklyn can become a terrible thorn in their side.

Equal-Opportunity Evil: Averted in WWII, where the members appear to be primarily German just like the Nazis, though they never actually claim to be racial supremacists. The current version has multiple offshoots worldwide, and includes dedicated members of different races and genders determined to bring a New World Order.

The Evils of Free Will: Their core philosophy and why they justify a fascist form of government. However, they sorely pay for it during World War II, and thus decide to become subtle about it and trick citizens in voting away their own freedom for security.

Zola: HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly.

Knight Templar: Post-Red Skull their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. For all their talk of peace and saving lives, their list of targets include Tony Stark and President Ellis. It's not so much "people who are threats to the world" as "people who will challenge HYDRA's status quo".

A Million Is a Statistic: They view 20 million people targeted by Zola's algorithm as a small price to pay to unite the world under their banner.

Not So Different: From S.H.I.E.L.D., with Pierce pointing out that their enemies are HYDRA's enemies. This is averted where everyone points out that S.H.I.E.L.D is about protection. Also, HYDRA, as one of its former employees pointed out, have been obsessed with global domination since the forties.

Putting on the Reich: Inverted, instead they take off the Reich and become their fascistic faction, though retaining some Nazi traits. Later they lose the "racial supremacist" bit when Armin Zola reforms them. They're plain neo-fascists now.

Villainous Virtues: If nothing else, HYDRA members are immensely loyal and show bravery and self-sacrifice even in the face of death. The only two who defy this are Zola and Sitwell and the former still upheld HYDRA's goals until his death, and even sacrificed his now-immortal computer life to try and kill HYDRA's sole remaining threat. Even the higher-ups, like Red Skull and Pierce, have Pet the Dog moments to their subordinates.

We Are Everywhere: They have completely taken over SHIELD, to the point that there's no way of knowing who's loyal and who isn't until guns start shooting.

A brilliant yet completely insane German scientist during World War II. He's the head of the Nazi party's deep science division HYDRA. His pursuit of power from Norse Mythology turned him into a greater threat than Adolf Hitler himself. Being a Super Soldierprototype doesn't hurt either.

Affably Evil: Towards Zola, anyway. He even gives him his Cool Car so that he can find a way out of the exploding base.

Brutal Honesty: When the Nazis visiting his base to see what the hell he's up to figure out he's a traitor, he admits it straight away.

Card-Carrying Villain: Unlike the subtler modern-times villains faced in Winter Soldier or by the likes of Tony Stark, Red Skull isn't trying to fool anybody. He's a murderous megalomaniac with a skull for a face, and proud of it. Zola even points out how much of a failure Red Skull's blatantly evil approach to world domination was, and how the new HYDRA has found vastly greater success with Alexander Pierce's subtler velvet glove approach.

Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Played with. Schmidt is only called "Red Skull" once in The First Avenger, and he doesn't seem to care for the name. Averted in The Winter Soldier, where he is exclusively referred to as the Red Skull.

Even Evil Has Standards: Unusual for a version of the Red Skull who is a Complete Monster most of the time. Even then, this trope may be a subversion (see below). The Red Skull doesn't abandon Armin Zola completely when he orders his base self-destructed and the comic-book tie-in mentions he has nothing against individual races since he finds Hitler's racial doctrines to be ludicrous. Erskine's reaction to this last one is to say this makes the Red Skull EVEN WORSE than Hitler as he's just going along with the Nazis for power.

Evil Counterpart: Much like Cap, he had been injected with the serum. Unlike Cap, he betrays his own country, has nothing but contempt for those lesser than him, and is hell-bent on world domination.

Lack of Empathy: It's because he views other humans as ants. Why should a superior being care about something so insignificant?

Large Ham: Notably when he losing control. Of his temper or the situation or both.

Latex Perfection: His normal human face was evidently an example of this but it's actually averted at a few points: the neck sometimes has problems fastening so that the red flesh can be seen underneath.

Narcissist: Has one of his minions paint a portrait of him with entrails.

"This want not meant for eyes of ordinary men."

"Precisely."

Nazi Nobleman: While he doesn't identify with the Nazi party anymore, he undeniably likes to invoke the Nobleman half.

Never Found the Body: It's unclear as to exactly what happened to Schmidt after he grabbed the Tesseract. In-universe, however, he's presumed to be dead.

The Noseless: Justified; he's a skull and the nose is made of cartilage rather than bone.

Obviously Evil: Come on, he's a genocidal Nazi control freak with no empathy, a giant trenchcoat and a freaking skull for a head. Everyone, even Zola, can tell from the start that he's bad news.

Omnicidal Maniac: His plan for bombing his enemies includes Berlin. No place is safe from him.

Personality Powers: The Super Soldier Serum "...amplifies everything inside. Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse." Thus, a psychopathic Nazi who gave Adolf Hitler the creeps essentially becomes an Omnicidal Maniac and even crazier than ever, with power to match his madness.

Pragmatic Villainy: Schmidt could have easily left Zola to die, but instead gives him the keys to his Cool Car...Because someone has to drive it out of the exploding base.

Psycho Prototype: His serum was flawed (and he's evil) so it made him more psycho then he already was.

The Social Darwinist: Expresses the view that the strong should rule and the weak are expendable in the tie-in comic. However, his social Darwinism isn't tied to Nazi racist ideology, and he in fact indicates he's not a racist... mostly because he doesn't care about humanity at all anymore, so the distinction of race is meaningless to him.

The Sociopath: Feels free to ignore morality and empathy because he was serumed - he is above humanity now. Why should he care for human morality?

The Starscream: He has his minions chanting "Hail HYDRA". Eventually he's revealed to have Berlin as one of his targets for annihilation, and kills the Nazi officers who come to look through his projects.

Super Soldier: Same as Steve. The serum helps magnifies everything about the subject, including their personalities and inner qualities (good becomes great, bad becomes worse). Schmidt, being decidedly insane and hungry for power, had all of his physical qualities enhanced but gained his grotesque appearance as a result of his psychotic personality. Steve, by contrast, basically became the paragon of humanity both physically and personality-wise, in part due to his genuine kindness and humility. That was why Erskine chose him for the project in the first place.

Tear Off Your Face: Inverted. To show what he really looks like, he tears off his own face (or at least the false one) to show to Cap.

Übermensch: Schmidt proclaims himself (and Captain America) to have left humanity behind, rejects outside ideologies in favour of one of his own design, and believes himself to be superior to lesser men.

The Unfettered: A given for a sociopathic Übermensch; Schmidt was willing to wipe out millions of innocent people to prove his delusions of godhood.

Unskilled, but Strong: He's a scientist first, and when he tangles with Cap it's clear his hand-to-hand combat training isn't at the level of guys like Winter Soldier or even Batroc the Leaper. He can still trade punches with Cap on an even basis since they're both products of the same super serum.

Villainous Legacy: As Steve was the world's first superhero, the Red Skull was effectively the first supervillain, and his actions indirectly influenced future conflicts. He causes the events of The Avengers via his discovery of the Tesseract and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s recovery of it, and as the arc reactor is implied to be based on Howard Stark's research on the Tesseract, he also played a hand in influencing the events of the Iron Man films and all that Tony Stark did with the technology. And then in The Winter Soldier we find out HYDRA outlived him and has continued on under new leadership.

Villains Out Shopping: He recognizes Captain America on security monitors and calls to him by name, saying he's a fan of his films. These observations beg the question of what he does in his spare time. Considering that the people said films likely pit the Captain against are the Nazis that Schmidt has broken away from, that statement may not even be sarcasm.

Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: Averted. In their second confrontation, Skull pauses to ask a small question that one can forgive him for asking (what about Steve made Erskine choose him), and then he pulls out a sidearm and decides to get it over and done with.

Wicked Cultured: Shows an appreciation for folklore (for business purposes) and has his picture painted the old fashioned way.

Adaptational Wimp: In comparison to the vile version of him in the comics, Zola is portrayed as a Punch Clock Villain and nothing more. Until The Winter Soldier reveals it was all an act. Zola was in fact instrumental in HYDRA's resurrection and infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D, and is revealed to have gleefully tortured several soldiers including Bucky.

Anti-Villain: Works for the Nazis, and then for HYDRA, but has no real desire for conquest; he just wants to create inventions and save his own skin. Subverted though, in that he confesses to be remorseless near the end of the first film and in the sequel, much more than that.

Bigger Bad: The first one to Alexander Pierce. He appears for a grand total of two scenes in the sequel, but without him, the plot would've been drastically different. See also Predecessor Villain below.

Evil Genius: His designs are above what Howard Stark or Schmidt could design alone.

Evil Vegetarian: When Col. Phillips offers him a steak, Zola refuses it, saying meat doesn't agree with him. However, he may have been lying since he suspected the meat was poisoned. (It wasn't.)

This becomes hilarious in hindsight when he uploads his mind into a databank of computer tapes, after which his insidious infiltration and corruption of SHIELD only grew. Not only did meat disagree with him, it was holding him back.

Faux Affably Evil: While quite polite and dorky, he still willingly backs Red Skull. Crops up again when he's talking to Captain America and Black Widow- he "politely" gloats and then laughs in their face as he expects them all to die.

For Science!: He just builds the awesome glowing blue machines. HYDRA and Schmidt are the ones who actually use them.

The Heavy: While not the main villain, he's the one who designs the Skull's entire arsenal of futuristic weaponry and without him, nothing the Skull planned would have been possible. He retains this role in the sequel, being the main who turned Bucky into the Winter Soldier as well as the man who wrote the algorithm that lies at the heart of HYDRA's Evil Plan to kill millions of people they deem a threat. Less directly, he also helped HYDRA to take over SHIELD.

Mad Scientist: Though he's much saner than Red Skull, he loses all concerns for safety when he realizes the Tesseract's potential. Even more prominent in The Winter Soldier, where he is shown to be behind the creation of the Winter Soldier, and when he became fatally ill in the '70's, transferred his mind into a computer so he could survive and continue serving HYDRA.

Manipulative Bastard: An implicit requirement for being able to convert SSR/S.H.I.E.L.D. agents over to the very organization they were fighting, one that arose from the Nazis.

Minion with an F in Evil: He's uncomfortable in Red Skull's work enviroment and doesn't commit any evil beyond building the weapons. He just happens to work for a lunatic. The sequel, though, shows that while he's not as evil as Red Skull, he's still a very bad man. He's the one who makes Bucky into the Winter Soldier, and he's complicit in numerous murders as well as a decades-long conspiracy helping HYDRA to infiltrate SHIELD. Worst of all, Zola writes a computer algorithm that helps to identify any and all potential threats to HYDRA's New World Order, numbering in at least the tens of millions, in order that they can be murdered.

Mistaken Nationality: Because of his accent and who he was working for, both Steve and the audience assumed he was German. Turns out he's Swiss.

Mythology Gag: His first appearance on screen is that of a distorted head in a screen, mirroring his most iconic incarnation. Later he's seen taking paper with the designs of said robot body. In The Winter Soldier, the camera attached to the computer his uploaded self is occupying looks like the camera on his comics counterpart's robot body.

Averted. Philips points out that Zola didn't have a personal cyanide pill to swallow when he got captured, unlike so many other HYDRA agents, which means he prefers to live. This makes him easy to blackmail.

However, after cheating death for more than forty years with a Brain Uploading, when a missile heads his way to kill Captain America, Black Widow, and himself by proxy, he tricks them into listening to his Evil Gloating until he believes it's too late to stop, then just laughs and gleefully accepts his fate as the price of success.

Not-So-Harmless Villain: In The First Avenger, he comes off more as a Punch Clock Villain who was afraid of Red Skull, but smart enough to make weapons from the Tesseract. In the sequel, he's sowed the seeds and created a far more dangerous plan and army to take over the world.

Only Sane Man: Compared to Schmidt, who's unrelentingly called insane throughout the film - even by Zola himself. Turns out, while he never bought into Red Skull's little personality cult, he was a true believer in HYDRA's cause.

Predecessor Villain: Becomes this in The Winter Soldier, as we learn that he originally orchestrated SHIELD's corruption and concocted the film's Evil Plan before current Big Bad Alexander Pierce took the reins.

Punch Clock Villain: He has no stake in Schmidt's operation, but who else is gonna to give him a Tesseract? Think of the opportunities! Subverted in The Winter Soldier as keeping him alive as an Allied scientist allowed him to manipulate SHIELD from the back end and rebuild HYDRA as a shadow group, poised to bring about Schmidt's new world order using the United States' own technology.

Reluctant Mad Scientist: He'd rather build his designs in a environment that did not require chanting 'Hail Hydra'. The sequel reveals that he was only "reluctant" to work for Red Skull; he's quite happy to be a Mad Scientist and is ideologically proud to work for HYDRA, especially since its implied that the Skull's successors treat him with more respect than did the Skull himself.

The Starscream: Double Subverted Trope. While he does seem alarmed by Red Skull's Sanity Slippage, he maintains a firm belief in his ideals. Despite that, he isn't willing to throw his life away for the cause, and sells Red Skull out for his own safety — and, as revealed in Winter Soldier, to revive HYDRA right under its enemies' noses.

Team Killer: Deliberately joined S.H.I.E.L.D. with the intention of raising HYDRA inside it.

Took a Level in Jerkass: Dr. Zola takes multiple levels after the war ends and he's recruited to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., being responsible for the decades long HYDRA plan to covertly take over the world. Even after this revelation, his torture of the American soldiers is shown, casting him in an even nastier light.

The Unfettered: In The Winter Soldier, Zola refused to allow death to stop him from furthering HYDRA's goals; he simply transferred his mind into a computer and went right on working.

Villain Team-Up: In 1946, Zola's cell was eventually shared with another supervillain, Dr. Fennhoff, a talented hypnotist and leader of Leviathan. Zola offered him a chance for escape by combining their skills, and by proxy uniting Leviathan and HYDRA.

Virtual Ghost: In The Seventies, he was able to upload his brain into a lot of mainframe computers before dying. And despite some additions such as an USB port, it's mostly an old-fashioned Zeerust ghost that appears through tube monitors.

Walking Spoiler: For The Winter Soldier, where his very appearance is a huge spoiler, let alone the details.

Adaptational Villainy: Batroc in the comics is essentially a thief at best, and he has a strong code of honor that includes not harming innocent people. Here, he's a pirate leader fully willing to kill hostages and raid boats.

Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He practices savate, a kick-based martial arts with lots of flips. In the comics this is where he gets his full name "Batroc the Leaper". In the film, however, his style resembles more capoeira.

Badass Normal: Able to hold his own against Captain America in hand-to-hand combat, and later manages to make an escape from Cap and Natasha make his way off the Lemurian Star despite being in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Blood Knight: After he lost his ship and his crew, he actually went back just to fight Captain America.

A mysterious assassin with strength and cunning to match Steve Rogers's own. The Winter Soldier is rumored to have been responsible for dozens of assassinations that changed the course of history. During Roger's new career in the modern day, the Soldier is assigned a few new targets: Director Nick Fury, then Captain America and Black Widow as they investigate the conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Adapted Out: Much of Winter Soldier's background introduced in his comic debut has been cut or exchanged. Aleksander Lukin, his commander, and Vasily Karpov, his creator, are replaced in the film by Alexander Pierce and Arnim Zola, respectively. Additionally, this Winter Soldier never had a romantic relationship with Black Widow (he only encountered her once before on a kill mission) and his Russian ties are mostly all diversions from his actual ownership by HYDRA within America.

Antagonist Title: The previous film's subtitle referred to Steve. This time, Winter Soldier takes the honor.

Artificial Limbs/Red Right Hand: His left arm is a cybernetic replacement with the Red Star engraved onto it. It's a very durable prosthetic, bulletproof, withstands Cap's steel-slicing shield, and recovers in a few seconds from Black Widow's electro-dart that could knock out a grown man. Winter Soldier also uses it subtly differently from his human arm; the flesh one is used for quick, precise uses like knife fights, while the metal one is used for power attacks since it takes at least a second to pull back then punch. A closer look reveals Winter Soldier has some metal enhancement going into his shoulder and ribs, so that his body is strong enough to keep his heavy arm attached.

Ax-Crazy: A high-functioning example. As the Winter Soldier, Bucky is a highly efficient, focused killing machine with all personality brainwashed away. But if he stays out of cryofreeze too long or encounters an old friend, he starts remembering fragments of who he was and acting erratically.

Badass: Enough to take on Rogers in a fight, and easily deal with Black Widow and the Falcon. No one in the movie gives even as close as good of a fight to Steve as he does, and they were mostly dead even.

Badass in Distress: Although he himself doesn't know it, he's actually been HYDRA's prisoner for the last 70 years. Any time he starts to become even remotely aware of this fact, they wipe his mind.

Barbarian Longhair: He's got very long hair, seemingly suggested he's given up paying attention to his appearance during his assassin career. Unlike most examples of this trope, though, he's usually calm and collected, until near the end of the film.

Determinator: It makes him a counterpart to Steve in that he will go to any length to take targets down.

Disney Death: As Bucky Barnes, he appears to fall to his death, out of a train, and straight down into an icy chasm below it, but he returns as the eponymous assassin in The Winter Soldier.

Domino Mask: Doesn't wear one, but the black makeup around his eyes is painted in a style that resembles the domino mask of his comic book incarnation.

Dramatic Un Mask: During their fight on the street, Steve rips off his mask and finds his enemy is actually his childhood best friend.

The Dragon: He served as one to HYDRA as a whole over the past 60-odd years. In the movie itself, he acts as one to Pierce.

The Dreaded: Even Black Widow, who has dealt with some of the toughest people imaginable, is apprehensive of him. Considering that the only person in the entire movie who was able to match him in a fight was Captain America, Living Legend and the guy that Nick Fury literally called the greatest soldier in history, it's not hard to see why.

Judging by his reputation and Natasha's reaction to him, along with his superhuman status, it's entirely possible that he may be the greatest assassin in the world. Considered The Spook over the course of several decades, linked to over two dozen assassinations, and yet, in an age of paranoia wherein most of the world is in a surveillance-heavy state, the majority of the intelligence community doesn't believe he even exists. That alone makes a convincing argument, bolstering his status as the Dreaded.

Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Most of the time he has this expression, even while on the job. It's less that he's consciously unhappy than that he remembers nothing else.

Empowered Badass Normal: What's been done to him has made him powerful enough to hold his own against Captain America, casually step out of the way of a speeding exploding car, and even catch Captain America's thrown shield from behind. However, his enhancements are secondary to his ruthlessness, marksmanship, and CQC skills.

Extreme Doormat: Despite arguably being one of the most dangerous men alive, the Winter Soldier is completely subservient to HYDRA, barring the occasional freak-out. The fact that his brain is all but fried probably has something to do with it.

Fake Russian: In-universe, Bucky has a Soviet branding on his arm, uses old Russian slugs, and shouts orders to henchmen in Russian at one point, but this is merely smoke and mirrors surrounding who he really is. He's an unwitting American turned into an assassin for HYDRA.

Handicapped Badass: Lost an arm years ago from his fall in The First Avenger. It was simply replaced with a metallic one.

The Heavy: He's not the primary villain of the show. That would be Pierce's part. Despite that, he's still the villain with the most emotional impact on the plot.

Heel-Face Turn: When he starts showing cracks in his Brainwashed and Crazy absence of personality, his Bucky Barnes memories are immediately erased before he can act outside his mission. The next time the programming fritzes out, it's just in time to prevent him from beating Steve to death so he can then save Steve's life and walk away to find his past.

Hero Killer: His apparent shooting of Nick Fury gives off his vibe, and manages to give Cap a Heroic BSOD once he learns the masked man's identity.

Implacable Man: There is no stopping him once he's let loose. Steve is literally the only person in the entire movie that was able to slow him down, and even then they were dead even when it came to pure combative skill. Only his resurfacing memories of his life as Bucky Barnes were capable of hindering him in his mission, and he only stops trying to kill Steve when Steve calmly ceases fighting back, citing their past relationship. Even that was more the Soldier's confusion than anything else, unable to account for a person who is not "target", "superior" or "irrelevant".

Knife Nut: The film shows him using some pretty intricate knife-handling skills.

Knight of Cerebus: While other villains in the MCU have their humorous moments, the Winter Soldier has none. His powers aren't particularly outlandish either, but whenever he shows up, expect a tide of death and destruction to follow his wake. This is also in contrast to Captain America, who's characterized as a Hope Bringer.

Looks Like Cesare: His dark hair and the circles under his eyes give off this impression.

Loss of Identity: Literally. He has absolutely no idea who he really is or that at his temporal age, he should either be dead or in a nursing home. All that really mattered to him was the mission until Steve came along. Justified is that HYDRA kept wiping his memory clean after all of his missions were finished.

Meaningful Name: The Winter Soldier was dragged from ice, gets placed in cryosleep between missions, and has the demeanor of a heavily-armed glacier. The phrase "winter soldier" references an investigation into war crimes committed by American soldiers in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, organised by Vietnam veterans - it was called The Winter Soldier Investigation. That, in turn, referenced a quotation from Thomas Paine, who described a "summer soldier" as someone who only serves their country when convenient. Thus the name connotes both cold and wartime atrocities.

It also references Russian military history, to match his red star emblem, Soviet bullets, and use of Russian language. You do not fight a war with Russia during the winter time. You will lose. Just ask Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler.

Mysterious Mercenary Pursuer: While he's not technically a mercenary, and to anyone who's read the comics he's not especially mysterious, he otherwise fits this trope to a T.

No-Nonsense Nemesis: He comes out of freaking nowhere to attack, to the point where the first inkling anyone has he's there is his bullet going through his target. He has perhaps a total of eight lines, most of them delivered either flatly or in a state of complete and blinding rage.

No Sell: He's the first person in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to no-sell Black Widow's hurricanrana, and that's a list that includes a seven foot tall cyborg alien soldier. Cap's first attempt to throw his shield at him also has no effect, as the Winter Soldier just catches out of midair.

Not So Stoic: After Steve calls him by his nickname, and his memories get triggered as a result. Before that, The Winter Soldier was silent in battle. During the climax, as Steve tries to get through to him, he screams at Steve to shut up.

One-Hit Polykill: In a tale told by Natasha, the Winter Soldier had targeted a nuclear engineer she was trying to get to safety. When she threw herself into the line of fire to shield the target, the Soldier simply fired through Natasha. She survived. The target didn't. Judging by her scar, Natasha only failed in literally fulfilling the trope through pure luck and speedy medical attention.

Older Than They Look: He's as old as Steve, making him in his nineties, but has the appearance and body of a man a third that age. This is attributed to most of his time being spent in Suspended Animation. The villains revive him whenever they need someone eliminated then immediately freeze him again once it's done.

One-Man Army: Showcases this best when single-handedly taking out an entire squadron of SHIELD gunships, their crews, and any agents unlucky enough to get in his way.

Quest for Identity: He is seen after the credits visiting the Captain America Smithsonian exhibit seen earlier in the film.]]

The Quiet One: You would be forgiven for not realizing he can speak. He talks during, at most, three scenes during the entire movie, the last of which he's screaming.

The Reveal: He's actually Bucky Barnes, brainwashed by HYDRA and having no memories of his past self.

Scarily Competent Tracker: At one point, Nick Fury barely manages to escape from an assault he leads, escaping to Steve Rogers' apartment. Within moments of Steve returning, the Winter Soldier has tracked down and severely wounded his target.

Secondary Character Title: Despite being in the title and central to the plot, he mostly stays Out of Focus and really doesn't become active until the latter half of the movie, when he attacks Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon and Steve realizes his true identity. From there, he ultimately serves as Steve's final opponent and the main focus. Though the movie does a nice job setting up possible appearances for future installments.

Shrouded in Myth: S.H.I.E.L.D. knows nothing about his origins and, until his attack on Nick Fury, have little proof that he exists. It nicely parallels Steve's own Living Legend status to hammer in the Evil Counterpart undertones of their relationship.

Silent Antagonist: He almost never speaks, especially in action, except rattling off a few orders in Russian. Possibly because having him speak would have spoiled that he was Bucky.

The Spook: Natasha explicitly described the Winter Soldier as "a ghost". Until Steve sees his real 'Bucky' face, nobody really knows who he is or where he comes from.

Spoiler Title: To the point that we have to hide his actor and none of the trailers have a particularly clear shot of his face - then again, for comic readers, it's a Foregone Conclusion.

The Stoic: Until the climax, the Winter Soldier is nothing but cold, calm, and professional, to a point that it becomes machine-like.

Super Reflexes: They let him pull off the shield catch mentioned. It may be thanks to his robot arm, as that's the one he uses to catch Steve's shield.

In the movie proper, the only person fast enough match those reflexes is Steve, which makes sense seeing as Steve is the only other superhuman in the entire movie.

Super Senses: He manages to hear Black Widow (or rather, a cellphone she put on playback to bait him) amidst a chaotic street.

Super Strength: His metal arm is strong enough to easily overpower Captain America, tear off armored car-doors and fire high-recoil weapons with perfect accuracy. During his fight scenes, there's a distinct difference between the attacks he makes with his flesh-and-blood arm and the cybernetic arm - the former is for precision, the latter simple straight-up power.

Some points in the film such as the part wherein he kicks a SHIELD pilot into a jet engine show that his flesh-and-blood body parts have somehow been enhanced as well likely due to his exposure to a Super Serum procedure similar to Cap's in the previous film.

Took a Level in Badass: As Bucky Barnes, he was skilled in battle but nowhere near Steve's level. As The Winter Soldier, though, he's become the greatest assassin in history, a One-Man Army, and gives heavyweights Black Widow and Cap himself a run for their money.

Tragic Villain: The Winter Soldier doesn't do what he does necessarily because he wants to. Decades of brainwashing and torture has fried his brain so much that despite being one of (if not the) most dangerous men on the planet, he is a complete and utter Submissive Badass who is subservient to HYDRA and Alexander Pierce in particular. He doesn't know how to be anything but a weapon, meant to complete the missions assigned to him by any means necessary. Since he has no memories of his previous life, he doesn't bother to resist. Steve indicating that he was more than a weapon nearly spiralled him into a mental breakdown.

Tranquil Fury: During the attack on the highway, Winter Soldier is outsmarted by Black Widow and shot in the eye. His bulletproof goggles save him, but the Soldier actually pauses for a while seemingly in alarm at how close to death he just came. He quietly takes off his cracked goggles... then unloads a full clip of gunfire right in Black Widow's direction.

There Was a Door: The Winter Soldier never opens a door that he could tear straight from its hinges. Even and especially when it's a metal door.

Unstoppable Rage: He loses it and goes into a full roaring rampage when Steve refuses to fight him and keeps telling him he's really Bucky Barnes.

Villainous Breakdown: In the climax, he loses it when Steve keeps calling him "Bucky". When you consider how fried his brain his, this a completely logical reaction. He's only ever had a mission to worry about, and Steve has shattered his entire world, just by saying that he is more than the weapon HYDRA made him into, and he can't handle it. The only thing he can do is try to complete the final mission HYDRA gave him, and that's kill Steve. When Steve refuses to fight him and drops his shield into the Potomac below on the basis of a friendship that the Soldier doesn't even remember, it confuses him so much he starts mentally breaking down, unable to comprehend Steve's sincerity and the emotions he recalls because of it.

Walking Armory: Has three sidearms, a submachine gun and at least two combat knives for backup, with him alternating for a primary between an assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher, two separate grenade launchers and a Soviet sniper rifle that (while not seen) is his trademark weapon in the intelligence community.

Weapon Twirling: He twirls his knives as he draws them, showing almost inhuman dexterity in a bit of showmanship that is incongruous with his tendency towards brutalefficiency.

Wham Line: "Who the hell is Bucky?" tells you that he doesn't know about his past memories.

The Worf Effect: Everyone who goes against him who isn't named Steve is easily dealt with. Even Natasha, who put up the best fight after Steve, is quickly overwhelmed by the Winter Soldier's combat ability, while the Falcon, in his wing suit no less, suffered a very brief Curb-Stomp Battle. This is to build the drama and suspense of the film as while Steve is the only person who can physically beat him, he's also the person least capable with emotionally dealing with him because of the Winter Soldier's true identity as Bucky Barnes, his long thought-dead best friend.

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